Tuesday 18 December 2012

Wicca

Wicca Details
Wicca (English pronunciation: /ˈwɪkə/) is a modern pagan religion that draws upon a diverse set of ancient pagan religious motifs for its theological structure and ritual practice. The religion usually incorporates the practice of witchcraft. Developed in England in the first half of the 20th century,[1] Wicca was later popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by Gerald Gardner.[citation needed] Gardner was a retired British civil servant, and an amateur anthropologist and historian who had a broad familiarity with pagan religions, esoteric societies and occultism in general. At the time Gardner called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft", and referred to its adherents as "the Wica".[2] From the 1960s onward, the name of the religion was normalised to "Wicca".[3]

Wicca is traditionally and primarily a duotheistic religion centred upon the idea of gender polarity and the worship of a Moon Goddess and a Horned God. (This core theology was originally described by Gerald Gardner, the founder of the religion; and Doreen Valiente, who wrote much of the original liturgical materials.) The Goddess and the God may be regarded as the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine. They are complementary opposites or dualities, bearing similarities to the concept of yin and yang in Taoism. The God and Goddess are generally seen as lovers and equals, the Divine Couple who together co-create the cosmos. (See Wiccan views of divinity.)

In addition to the core duotheism of Wicca, however, there are several other theological positions possible, including pantheism, polytheism, and henotheism; and even, for Dianic feminist witches, a form of monothestic goddess worship. These various theological perspectives are not necessarily regarded as mutually exclusive, and any individual Wiccan may shift from one perspective to another, or combine two or more perspectives together in one ritual. The metaphysical flexibility that allows for embracing more than one theological perspective at a time may seem paradoxical, but it is a common feature of Wicca as a mystery religion.
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